A state-of-the-art airship hovers above a vast toxic dust cloud, shrouding an ecologically devastated Earth. That's what most people notice when they see Forever Skies for the first time. And while this creates an interesting and unique premise to explore, it's one that was inspired by rather somber real-world circumstances. Read on to learn about the inspiration behind this first-person post-apocalyptic survival game, coming to PC and PS5 this year.

While our team is from around the world, a significant portion of us are based in Poland. For decades now, our country has been notorious for its poor air quality, particularly during the winter months. Iconic Polish cities such as Krakow or Wroclaw are frequently ranked alongside massive megacities like Beijing, Delhi, or Lahore. But these are massive metropolises with 10 or even 20+ million people living in them. Cracow or Wroclaw don't even exceed 700,000 people and yet we regularly get public warning announcements to stay indoors because of the current air pollution levels.

Hi everyone, I'm Samar, Associate Game Director at Vertigo Games. We couldn't be more excited to reveal our next project, Metro Awakening, during today's State of Play. We're proud to say that, with the support of Deep Silver, for the last two and a half years we've been working to bring the post-apocalyptic world of Metro to PS VR2, Meta Quest 2+3 and Steam VR 2024. The best video games take us out of our world by putting us in the boots of someone else. They let us experience that world through their eyes. The Metro series continually strives to achieve this. Inspired by the internationally best-selling novels by Dmitry Glukhovsky, Metro 2033, Metro: Last Light, and Metro Exodus delivered immersive first-person experiences at release. These games put players in the heart of a desperate battle for survival after nuclear Armageddon. Metro Awakening is an all-new Metro game made exclusively for VR, and powered by the immersive features of PS VR2 and its Sense controllers.

It's an origins story, set before the events of Metro 2033, that both offers a whole new angle for Metro fans, and a fantastic starting point for seasoned VR players ready to put on the gas mask. Set in 2028, the all-new story is penned by series creator Dmitry Glukhovsky. You play as Serdar, a doctor searching for his wife amongst the claustrophobic, irradiated metro tunnels of post-apocalyptic Moscow. As Serdar ventures deeper into the Metro his courage and sanity will be tested by the supernatural forces he encounters, and will set in motion the events that lead to his spiritual awakening as something else entirely…

In dev diary #1, Alex Skidmore, Project Creative Director at The Chinese Room (TCR) wrote about the first game pillar "Feel like a Vampire," which sets the player fantasy as a guiding light for creative decisions. We've shown a lot of combat so far to give you a taste of the power and flow. What you've seen is influenced by the second game pillar: "Visceral, Immersive Combat" which directs the action gameplay. Today, Alex is back to share his thoughts on this important part of the Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2.

When designing Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 combat the goal was to create an action experience that can compete with modern titles. We think of it in three main gameplay styles we want to offer to you all - existing Bloodlines fans, and players who are new to the World of Darkness. The 1st playstyle we at TCR call the Strategic Stalker: as the name reflects, fans of more strategic combat experiences where staying hidden and using the element of surprise is key will get their vampire predator fantasy. Did you enjoy the Dishonored series, or playing stealth-focused builds in Fallout or Elder Scrolls games? Me too! It gives you time to prepare what Discipline power you'd like to use and when. Once your plan is ready, summoning the powers of the blood, sneaking up on an enemy, distracting them, feeding on them before a fight breaks out or hit and run tactics are options for people who love to play this way.

It's going to be a good year for Xbox players. At this week's Developer_Direct show, we provided deep-dives into five new games launching across Xbox Series X|S, PC, Game Pass and/or cloud—all of which will arrive later in 2024. Development teams at Xbox, Bethesda, and even one of our third-party partners invited you into their studios to showcase extended gameplay, reveal key information, and more. Members of each development team gave us a look into their creation, with new information, and offered a tantalizing glimpse of what's to come this year. All four of these games will arrive on day one with Game Pass, and will contribute to what's going to be another huge year for members, delivering incredible games throughout 2024.

Avowed—Launching Fall 2024
Avowed Game Director Carrie Patel gave us a first deep-dive into the gameplay in Obsidian's upcoming fantasy action RPG, from its dynamic combat, to its thoughtful reactivity, to its "colorful, vibrant, strange" world set in the Living Lands. Avowed continues Obsidian's signature style of creating games with deep themes and player choice at the forefront. Not only will you make narrative decisions that can impact changes in the game down the line, but Avowed is also looking to offer choice in combat. Gameplay Director Gabe Paramo discussed not only how varied your weaponry will be - with melee weapons, ranged guns and bows, and magic-based wands (even dual-wielded wands!) to name a few—but how flexible combat can be, allowing you to quickly change loadouts for enemy encounters. Swappable loadouts mean you can approach combat however feels right to you.

This new journey starring the legendary archaeologist comes from the award-winning team at MachineGames—the minds behind Wolfenstein: The New Order and Wolfenstein: The New Colossus—in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games and executive produced by Bethesda Game Studios' Todd Howard. Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is coming later this year to Xbox Series X|S and PC and will be available day one on Game Pass. Check out the full announce from the Developer_Direct and get more insights from the team at MachineGames below.

Set between "Raiders of the Lost Ark " and "The Last Crusade," Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is a first-person, single-player adventure that will take you all over the world, uncovering clues and solving an ancient mystery. Become the adventurer in a race against sinister forces. Your journeys will take you from the hallowed halls of the Vatican and the arid deserts of Egypt to the lush and sunken temples of Sukhothai and the frigid peaks of the Himalayas.

The Finals—a free-to-play online first-person shooter—has pulled in a large population of gamers across Windows PCs and current-gen gaming consoles since its surprise launch last month, but players on Linux Desktop + Intel Arc hardware were missing out on this experience...until very recently. Phoronix reports that Embark Studio's Unreal Engine 5-powered title has started to work in a Linux environment "thanks to Valve's Steam Play (Proton + VKD3D-Proton). With the latest Mesa driver activity, Intel Arc Graphics on Linux with their open-source driver can now handle this popular game." GamingOnLinux owner, Liam Dawe, created a post about this development, although he noticed a multitude of stability problems and glitches in-game, but was largely up and running with an AMD Radeon 6800 XT GPU on Mesa 23.3.3.

Phoronix's Michael Larabel noted some (Intel Arc-specific) feedback on GitLab: "when launching The Finals on Linux with Intel Arc Graphics using the default DirectX 12 renderer, it was reported that the game is stuck at a black screen for Intel Arc Graphics and then simply closes... Well, it's an easy fix and one that has come up before." He has witnessed similar problems with other games—notably Diablo IV and Cyberpunk 2077: "due to The Finals using Intel's XeSS upscaling tech but that not behaving well on Linux. The Windows game sees Intel Graphics being utilized and by default tries to leverage XeSS...Intel Arc Graphics on Linux can run The Finals when concealing the fact that it's Intel Graphics inside."

As we enter the third week of the new year, we have the first major release of the year, although it might not quite be a AAA release it combines something old with something even older to try and make it into something new. As for the rest of this coming week's releases, we have a steampunk RPG set in the Victorian area, a co-op FPS, a turned based 4X god game, a city builder with a twist and a world full of your pals.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown / This week's major release / Thursday 18 January
Dash into a stylish and thrilling action-adventure platformer set in a mythological Persian world where the boundaries of time and space are yours to manipulate. Play as Sargon and evolve from sword-wielding prodigy to extraordinary legend as you master acrobatic combat and unlock new Time Powers and unique super abilities.

Good evening Kindred, today we shared some very exciting news on our Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 news stream! We were joined by Sean Greaney (EVP of Darkness) and Ian Thomas (Narrative Director at TCR), who discussed some of the game's features relating to both narrative and roleplaying. In case you missed it, you can find it below. In the stream, we were introduced to the protagonist of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2; Phyre, an Elder vampire at odds with the voice in her head, who confronts Seattle's powerful elites at war over the City's fate.

Players choose Phyre's clan and gender and begin exploring a re-imagined Seattle filled with compelling characters while maneuvering through complex relationships. Choices and conversations (even outfits!) shape how the environment and characters react to Phyre, changing how the story unfolds.

As we're about to enter the month of November, October leaves us with a couple of final game releases. This week's AA release is a sequel to a puzzle game that was quite popular when it launched at the end of 2014. The remaining titles this coming week includes RPGs, something musical, something to do with leagues and legends, a cop that's a robot and some seasons greetings.

The Talos Principle 2 / This week's AA title / Thursday 2 November
Born into a new world where biological humanity is extinct but human culture lives on in a city of robots, you find yourself swept up in a mind-bending adventure involving a mysterious megastructure hiding enormous powers. The more you discover, the more you will be confronted with questions about the nature of the cosmos and the purpose of civilization. The broken promise of a better tomorrow, the fear of repeating humankind's mistakes, faith in reason or renouncing humanity altogether - the choices you make and the sides you take will determine the course of events.

Assassin's Creed Nexus VR will launch for Meta Quest devices - including Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, and Meta Quest Pro - on November 16, enabling players to leap into a first-person virtual-reality adventure for the first time in the Assassin's Creed franchise. Embodying Assassin's Creed heroes Ezio Auditore, Connor, and Kassandra, players will parkour, climb freely across open maps, and use real-world motions to fight their way through a full-fledged Assassin's Creed adventure set across three different eras.

As an undercover hacker in the modern day, players will work from inside Abstergo to foil a plot to change people's beliefs using ancient technology. Working under Abstergo's cybersecurity chief, Dominika Wilk (played by award-winning actress Morena Baccarin), players will explore newly discovered memories from Renaissance Italy, the American Revolution, and Ancient Greece.

This coming week, one of the most hyped AAA games of the year will launch and early previews of the game suggests it might just manage to mostly live up to the hype. However, the rest of this week is rather slow, maybe because all of the other publishers know most people will be busy playing their fancy new space game and won't be interested in what else might launch this week, although some appear to be riding on the wave of said space game. That said, there are still some minor releases this week, with at least a couple that might appeal to some of you.

Starfield / This week's AAA title / Wednesday 6 September
Starfield is the first new universe in over 25 years from Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4. In this next generation role-playing game set amongst the stars, create any character you want and explore with unparalleled freedom as you embark on an epic journey to answer humanity's greatest mystery. In the year 2330, humanity has ventured beyond our solar system, settling new planets, and living as a spacefaring people. You will join Constellation - the last group of space explorers seeking rare artifacts throughout the galaxy - and navigate the vast expanse of space in Bethesda Game Studios' biggest and most ambitious game.

In this Introduction to Worldbuilding video, we explore the narrative behind Still Wakes the Deep and the research driving development. Lead Environment Artist Iain Gillespie, Associate Art Director Laura Dodds, and Lead Designer Rob McLachlan offer a behind-the-scenes look into our next title. We discuss how the environment will evolve over time as well as the key inspirations behind the game's horror.

The period, the geographical location of the rig - these all play a crucial role in this narrative-driven horror story. Fans will discover how the team developed a fascination for cranes and scoured British Petroleum's documentary archives when striving for an authentic representation of a Scottish oil rig in the 1970s. We hope you enjoy it, and feel free to leave a comment with what you'd like to hear about next in a similar format...🌊

Today, Electronic Arts Inc. and Ascendant Studios launched Immortals of Aveum, a single-player, first-person magic shooter powered by the groundbreaking Unreal Engine 5.1 technology and set in an original fantasy universe. Developed by a new independent AAA studio made up of award-winning industry veterans and published under the EA Originals label, Immortals of Aveum puts players in a visceral and cinematic fantasy universe that combines modern characters and a story-driven campaign with intense magic-based action, world exploration and puzzle-solving. Summon your power, stop the Everwar, and save the realms starting now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via the EA app, Steam and Epic Games Store worldwide.

Immortals of Aveum tells the story of Jak (Darren Barnet), who discovers that he is a magically-imbued 'Unforeseen' and finds himself reluctantly caught in the middle of the raging Everwar. Recruited under the tutelage of the powerful General Kirkan (Gina Torres) and an elite order of battlemages called the Immortals, Jak must master all three colors of magic - blue, green, and red. With powerful magic-wielders and legions of soldiers on both sides of the Everwar, Jak and the Immortals must uncover the mysteries of Aveum's troubled past, if there's any hope for turning the tides of the Everwar and defeating Sandrakk, the powerful warlord of Rasharn and his mysterious lieutenant, simply known as The Hand.

Iceberg Interactive and Stormling Studios are excited to announce the launch of Lunacy: Saint Rhodes, an immersive first-person survival horror game that will send chills down everyone's spine. Now available on Steam, Lunacy: Saint Rhodes is ready to offer a truly disturbing experience for an SRP of just $19.99.

In Lunacy: Saint Rhodes, players will feel trapped within a claustrophobic horror movie, as their family's disturbing history is slowly unraveled. They will discover the secrets behind a tragic family event, and be made to confront their inner demons. All this while navigating the dark and oppressive town of Saint Rhodes, where the feeling of constant unwanted company never goes away. You will feel watched; never alone, never safe.

Welcome to Calyx, Groundbreakers! Techtonica has officially entered Early Access. If you haven't noticed, there's a launch discount available for the game, too. Techtonica will normally sell for $29.99, but there's a 15% launch discount that will run for the first week.

From us at Fire Hose to you, our growing community of Groundbreakers, thanks for being here. We hope you have a blast with Techtonica. v0.1 marks the beginning of our journey. We leave you with a link to our Discord if you want to chat directly with the devs and other community members and our upcoming Road Map. Let's get to work.

Ever since we announced Firewall Ultra, the next evolution of the Firewall franchise, last year on the PlayStation Blog, the outpour of encouragement from the community has been nothing short of amazing. The pure excitement in all your comments, messages, tweets, and posts have us all even more motivated to make the game as great as it can be. Which is why we're so excited to debut our new gameplay trailer featuring fresh PvP gameplay footage!

To cap off that excitement, today we're thrilled to announce that pre-orders are officially live for Firewall Ultra starting today with a launch date of August 24, 2023! Firewall Ultra puts the next-gen VR features embedded in the PS VR2 front and center to deliver a compelling and immersive first-person shooter experience. This includes eye-tracking for innovative use cases like closing your eyes to avoid the effects of a flashbang, incredible haptic feedback in the PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers for realistic weapon feedback, headset feedback when you take damage or toggle on night vision goggles, and so much more.

Calling all heroes, Saturday Morning Cartoons are back! Deep in the land of Eldryth, a kingdom of magic and power, there's more that lies in wait than simple quests for our brave heroes. Beyond the castle ruins in the old forest, a vampire of blackest heart calls upon his sorceress, Hexstar, to raise the dead armies and ready them for war. Who will stand and face these perils? Who will claim victory over their foes… through the power of teamwork?

As you might have seen in today's IGN x ID@Xbox Digital Showcase, we debuted a brand-new villain (Hexstar) and announced the inevitable release date of our upcoming title for September 12, 2023, for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. Inspired by beloved Saturday morning cartoons, MythForce unites swords and sorcery with gripping first-person combat in a new roguelike adventure.

In Immortals of Aveum, you play as Jak—an unlikely Magnus whose newfound potential has found him in the midst of the Everwar, human kind's endless conflict over the control of magic. Now, it's time for you to learn about everything he can do. Wield your magic with sigils and spells, build your loadout with gear and skill trees, and fight to uncover the secrets of Aveum and save the realms.

MAGIC
All magic in Aveum can be distilled into three forms: Blue force magic, Red chaos magic, and Green life magic. Each is used in its own ways and functions differently. Though most Magni are only able to control one color of magic, Triarchs are able to harness all three, though they are much rarer because of that. Jak is one such Magnus, allowing him to tap into all three types of magic.

BattleBit Remastered, a low poly alternative to EA's Battlefield franchise, was released two weeks ago via Steam Early Access. Developer SgtOkiDoki has announced that their massively multiplayer online first-person has sold a respectable 1,800,000 copies (at $14.99 a pop) in a relatively short span of time. The game has been in the works since 2016, with its early access launch occurring on June 15 (2023). BattleBit received some attention following the poor launch state of Battlefield 2042, with long term fans suggesting that their money would be best spent on the less visually appealing indie title. Streamers and influencers also focused more community eyes on BattleBit early last year.

Feedback on Steam—"Very Positive" from over 40,000 users indicates that first person shooter fans are enjoying the BattleBit Remastered experience, despite its primitive and blocky art style—SgtOkiDoki recently revealed some insights to How to Market a Game: "Players have an assumption about your game...And if the screenshots don't match the gameplay you have a problem. Our game played like Squad but looked like Roblox. That was a terrible move." Apparently BattleBit had a more military simulator approach earlier on in development, which clashed with its simplistic aesthetics. "We had to make a decision...(the team) had to pull back and make the game more open for arcade. It wasn't a decision I enjoyed, but I had to do it. It turned out it was a good decision." SgtOkiDoki's operation is expanding thanks to the BattleBit's success, but additional staffers will be dealing with an increase in DDOS attacks and a growing number of cheaters within the game's very active population.

With this week being the 4th of July in the US, it appears that we don't have too many game releases to look forward to, but we managed to dig out a few new releases regardless. This week's AA title comes from Japan, with all that that entails. The rest of this week's releases include some strategy, some shooting, some tagging, some climbing, some darkness and some fear, so make of that what you want. To our US readers, enjoy your holiday this coming week.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie / This week's AA title / Friday 7 July
What destinies await these three fateful figures? Use the Crossroads system to switch between Rean Schwarzer, Lloyd Bannings, and the masked figure "C", and determine the fates of key characters and locations within Zemuria. Dive into refined tactical combat with new features such as United Front, and discover new allies and challenges within the halls of the True Reverie Corridor!

As we are about to enter the second to last week of June, we got another packed week of new releases, with this week's AAA title being an action RTS game that may involve things exploding out of your chest. The rest of next week's release contains a mix of mostly several new FPS games, but also some Mayan action and a different take on the racing game genre.

Aliens: Dark Descent / This week's AAA title / Tuesday 20 June
Drop into the gripping journey of Aliens: Dark Descent, a squad-based, single-player action game in the iconic Alien franchise. Lead your soldiers in real-time to stop a new and terrifying kind of Xenomorph outbreak on Planet Lethe.

We at Obsidian Entertainment know players have been anticipating an updated look at Avowed and we're excited to show off what we've been working on with a first-ever gameplay trailer today at Xbox Games Showcase 2023. Expanding the universe that we created for the original Pillars of Eternity games, Avowed brings a new perspective, a new way to fight, and a new land to explore in the world of Eora. The Pillars games are near and dear to us and we can't wait to share Avowed with everyone next year.

In Avowed, you'll explore the Living Lands, a plagued, wild island set in the world of Eora. The Living Lands are full of mysteries and secrets, danger and adventure, and choice and consequences. Unique to the world of Eora, the Living Lands is home to bustling port towns and rolling hills adorned with weird and fantastical plant life. Every part of the Living Lands is home to its own ecosystem. Around every corner there are creatures, sentient mushrooms, or tribes of lizard-like Xaurips looking to make you their next meal…

Today we announced Clockwork Revolution at the Xbox Games Showcase, a fantastical, first-person action RPG, with dynamic time-bending combat, deep interconnected roleplaying systems, and the ability to create your own unique character from the ground up. The project is led by Game Director Chad Moore and Principal Designer Jason Anderson, who just happen to have created one of the greatest steampunk RPGs of all time—Arcanum.

Settings and Story
Clockwork Revolution takes place in the vibrant Victorian-era metropolis of Avalon, where steam trains fly overhead, wealthy industrialists replace their limbs with ornate clockwork prosthetics, and mechanical servants fulfill their masters' every whim. But this new age of wonders holds a dark secret—it's been carefully constructed by the ruthless Lady Ironwood. Through use of a time travel device, she's changed key moments in Avalon's history, keeping the working class struggling in the slums and factories, while bringing herself immense wealth and power. That's where you come in…

Publisher Focus Entertainment and developer Saber Interactive are thrilled to reveal John Carpenter's Toxic Commando, coming in 2024 to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via the Epic Games Store. Tag team with up to four players in this intense first-person shooter and battle massive hordes of mutated monstrosities to eradicate a supernatural outbreak before it's too late.

Watch the exhilarating reveal trailer, which premiered at the Summer Game Fest live showcase, for a first taste of the title's over-the-top gameplay and John Carpenter-inspired '80s vibes, packed with tons of action, humor and horror. "We're happy to team up once again with our historical partner Saber," said John Bert, Managing Director at Focus Entertainment. "After World War Z, Space Marine 2, Insurgency, SnowRunner, and many others, Toxic Commando is a new entry into the successful long-term relationship between Focus and Saber. We cannot wait to unveil more about this new amazing IP created by the talented teams at Saber and leverage Focus' expertise in turning new franchises into worldwide hits."

Dear Bloodlines fans, it's been quite a while between updates while we've had our heads down working on the game. We remain just as dedicated to delivering a great Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines game as we were when we announced, and are looking forward to showing you more in September this year.

We acknowledge it was a long time ago that many of you pre-ordered Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. As development continues, we will be updating the game's editions and bonus content, and we want to provide the best value to those of you who supported us via digital pre-order after all this time. We are thus offering refunds to anyone who has pre-ordered any edition of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. As part of this process, we are proactively refunding all pre-orders of physical products, including the Collector's Edition. The digital versions of the First Blood Edition, Unsanctioned Edition and Blood Moon Edition remain, but can be refunded if you choose.